Romolica Mihaiu

First study of Salmonella in meat in Romania.

INTRODUCTION The increasing antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella isolates is of major public health concern, but information regarding these aspects is still lacking in Romania. This study focused on a detailed and accurate investigation concerning prevalence, serotypes, and antimicrobial resistance patterns of Salmonella strains, isolated from pork and chicken meat, collected from all regions of Romania in 2011. METHODOLOGY The research was conducted on 650 samples of chicken and pork meat collected from production units and retail markets located in various regions of Romania. A total of 149 Salmonella isolates were recovered (22.92%), serotyped, confirmed by PCR, and further tested for antimicrobial susceptibility. RESULTS Thirteen Salmonella serovars were identified; predominant serovars included Infantis, Typhimurium, Derby and Colindale. Multiple resistance was found in 83.22% (n = 124) of the isolates. The isolates were frequently resistant to tetracycline (80.53%), streptomycin (81.21%), sulfamethoxazole (87.25%), nalidixic acid (65.10%), and ciprofloxacin (42.95%). Additionally, a markedly lower resistance rate was observed for ampicillin (20.81%), chloramphenicol (16.78%), and ceftazidime (11.41%). Among 137 resistant Salmonella isolates, 35 different resistance patterns were found. CONCLUSION A high prevalence of Salmonella spp. and a relatively high resistance rate to multiple antimicrobials was found. This data indicates that chicken and pork meat could constitute a source of human exposure to multidrug-resistant Salmonella and therefore could be considered a potential vehicle of resistant Salmonella foodborne diseases. Further actions are needed to succesfully implement a national surveillance program for better monitoring of these resistant pathogens.

Microbiological Assessment of Raw Meat Used in Fast-Food Products Sold for Public Consumption

Raw meat contains sufficient nutrients to support microbial growth and because of that the proper surveillance of the meat products destined for public consumption is mandatory. The purpose of this study was to conduct a microbiological risk assessment regarding the safety of pork, chicken and beef meat products found in fast –food units from Transylvania area. One hundred and seventy samples of raw meat(n=35) and fried foods made of pork(n=39), chicken(n=45)and beef products(n=51) were purchased randomly from 5 different fast-food units located in the study area.The determination performed in order to assess the safety was the total number of Enterobacteriaceae, evaluation of toxigenic E. coli and Salmonella spp. presence, which is also the parameter requested by the current regulation. The levels of contamination with Enterobacteriaceae that exceeded the current legislation limit were 6/39 (15%), 6/45 (13%) and 5/51 (9%) in cooked pork, chicken and respectively beef meat. Given the similar rate of contaminations among these three categories of food there were no statistical differences noticed (p>0.05). Results showed that in 35 of 170 (20%) collected food samples were found total Enterobacteriaceae count over 3 log CFU/g and 12 of 170 (7%) were found with coliform bacteria. Raw meat destined for fast-food industry can represent a risk for public health if hygiene and refrigerating conditions are not properly monitored.